Steam bath cabinet



May 27, 1941. A. J. CARI. y

STEAM BATH QABINET 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 11, 1940 A12/cf d CAA-2.mvEN'roR. f

l.. wh t utili.

ATTOR/VYE May 27, 1941.v A J. CARL 2,243,550

' STEAM BATH CABINET:

Filed April 11,- 1940 z sheets-sheet 2 FIC-s. .37 J

,4L /cf C14/QL.

INVENTOR.

w. Ange/ms.

WITNESS.'

4. www, vl-Ww ANU SPliroc-i Patented May 27, 1941 Search Heem UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in steam bath cabinets for use inhomes, beauty parlors, health clubs, and other places where steam vaporbaths may be administered.

One of the important features of the invention resides in a steam bathcabinet in which the steam generator, body enclosure, and seat for auser are novelly arranged to provide a relatively light but strongportable unit so that the cabinet may be easily moved from place toplace.

Another feature of the invention is to provide a steam cabinet in whichthe bottom of the cabinet constitutes a steam accumulator anddistributing chamber whereby to cause steam to rise upward about thebody of a person seated in the cabinet.

Another feature of the invention is the provision of a steam bathcabinet in which liquid condensation is confined therein to prevent thesame from leaking out onto the floor, and which liquid of condensationautomatically gravitates to the source of liquid supply.

A further feature of the invention is the provision of a steam bathcabinet which includes a flexible cover having a neck opening in the topthereof, and a frame for supporting the cover in spaced relation to thebody of user below the neck, there being an adjustable stool supportedby the frame to facilitate the comfortable accommodation of differentsize persons within the cabinet relative to the neck opening in theflexible cover.

Other features of the invention are to provide a steam bath cabinetwhich is simple of construction, inexpensive of manufacture, and easy toclean to meet public health sanitary requirements.

Other features of the invention will appear as the followingspecification is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Figure l is a perspective view of the steam bath cabinet looking at thefront thereof.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the steam bath cabinet looking at therear thereof.

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 1Figure 4 is an enlarged detail vertical sectional view on the line 4-4of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is an enlarged vertical transverse sectional view on the line5-5 of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is an enlarged detail vertical sectional view on the line 6-6of Figure 5.

Figure 7 is an enlarged detail vertical sectional view on the line l-'Iof Figure 5.

acters, the numeral Ill designates my improved steam bath cabinet in itsentirety, and which includes a metal frame structure II which includesfour uprights I2 made of metal tubing, the upper portions of theuprights being bent inwardly and the top ends are connected by acircular top rail I3, the front portion of the circular top rail beingbroken away or left open to permit of the easy ingress and egress of aperson in entering and leaving the cabinet. The lower ends of theuprights I2 are provided with spherical feet I4, although casters may beused in lieu of the spherical feet to facilitate the easy sliding of theframe structure over a floor.

Supported in an elevated position by the uprights I2 of the framestructure is a hollow platform I5 which includes an annular side wallI6, a bottom wall I'l and a top wall I8, the top wall being disposedbelow the top edge of the side wall I6 as clearly illustrated in Figure6. The uprights I2 pass through the top and bottom walls of the metalhollow platform I5, and the platform is secured to the uprights by boltsor like fastening elements I9 as illustrated in Figure 4 of thedrawings. The hollow platform I5 is supported adjacent the lower ends ofthe uprights I2 to permit a steam generating device 20 to be attached tothe bottom wall Il. The steam generating device 20 includes an electricheating coil 2I disposed within a tank or boiler 22, which tank issecured to the wall I1, there being a steam outlet 23 in the bottom wallI1 to permit steam from the tank 22 to enter the hollow platform I5.

Water for the generation of steam is fed to the tank 2U by a pipe 50leading from a trough 24, which trough is of segmental shape in plan,and is disposed at the rear of the platform I5. The reservoir or trough24 is fed with water from a water tank 25 which is provided with anautomatic control valve 26. The tank 25 having the removable regulatingvalve 2B is similar to the conventional kerosene tank used onWick-burner oil stoves, which tank may be filled with water by liftingit from the trough by the handle 21 and unscrewing the control valve 26,and when the tank is filled, it is inverted and dropped into the trough24 for feeding water to the tank 22 as is needed. The pipe has a draincock 5| in the low section thereof for draining the trough when desired.

The top wall I8 inclines toward the center for draining purposes, and isprovided with spaced steam outlet openings 28, and which openings extendover that area of the top wall I8 except adjacent the front portion ofthe top wall, which portion is covered by a heat resisting mat 29 whichmay be made of asbestos or other nonheatafsorbing material. The bottomwall I1 of the hollow platform is inclined toward the steam inletopening 23 so that moisture condensation may iiow from the hollowplatform into the steam generating tank 22.

The uprights I2 are braced above the platform I by a spider 30 which hasa central internally screw threaded hub 3I through which the screw 32 ofa stool 33 threads. The stool 33 provides a seat for the person taking abath,

and is adjustable for a reason to be hereinafter explained.

The frame structure II supports a exible waterproof enclosure 34 whichmay be made of rubberized fabric or the like. The enclosure 34 includesa flexible side wall 35, and a flexible top wall 36, the latter having aneclk opening 31 therein. The top wall 36 rests upon the top rail I3,whereas the side wall 35 is draped over the uprights I2 and extends downto and into lap ping engagement with the annular side wall I6 of thehollow platform I5. The front of the enclosure 34 is slit from. the wallof the neck opening 31 to the lower edge of the side wall 35 to permitingress to and egress from the enclosure. 'I'he edges of the slit areclosed by a slide fastener device 38 in which the actuating slide member39 is operable from both sides of the enclosure, whereby either a personseated within the enclosure may actuate the slide fastener to closedposition or the same may be actuated by an attendant from the exterior.In order to prevent the escape of steam from the enclosure, the lowerlapping portion of the side wall 35 thereof is provided with female snapfastener elements 40 which are engaged with male snap fastener elements4I which are secured to and extend from the side wall I6 of the platformI5 as best shown in Figure 6.

The snap fastener elements do not extend entirely about the enclosure,due to the location of the tank 25 and they also terminate short of thefront of the platform as shown best in Figure 1, to facilitate thefolding back of the enclosure when the slide fastener 3B is open,however, the front portion of the enclosure at the bottom thereof isreinforced by arcuate stays 42.

Secured to the side wall 35 of the enclosure is a flap 43, which extendsinwardly and rests upon the top wall I8. The flap 43 is cut away as at44 to enable it to fit about the uprights I2, and the nap is split-atthe front end so as not to interfere with the opening ofthe enclosure.'I'he flap 43 acts to seal the joint between the side wall 35 and thetop of the hollow platform I5, whereby any moisture condensation whichmight drain down the side wall 35 will be led onto the top wall I8 fromwhere it may flow through the opening 28 into the hollow platform '5 andthence drain into the steam generating tank 22.

IIhe steam generating device 20 is electrically operated, and itsoperation may be controlled by a time switch 44, which switch may be setbefore the person enters the cabinet, to cause the steam generator tooperate a predetermined time without the attention of anoperator.

In practice, assume that the enclosure 34 is n open, and that a personwishes to take a steam bath. The time switch 44 is set, and the heatfrom the electric steam generator 20 causes the water in' the boiler 22to be transformed into steam, whereupon the steam enters the hollowplatform I5 where it accumulates. The person enters the enclosure, sitsupon the seat 33, placing his or her feet on the mat 29, andpositioningl the neck in the neck opening 31, whereupon the slidefastener device 38 may be closed. The steam which accumulates in thehollow platform I5 rises upwardly through the openings 28 and theenclosure 34 is filled with steam. The steam vapors continue to riseuntil such time as the switch 44 shuts off the operation of the steamgenerator 20, at which time the person seated within the cabinet mayactuate the slide member 39 of the slide fastener device to open theenclosure 34, whereupon the person is free to step from the platform I3.By means of the adjustable Astool 33, the level of the seat may beadjusted so that the necks of different height persons may becomfortably tted through the neck opening 31.

In order to maintain the cabinet in a sanitary condition, it is possibleto disconnect the lower portion of the enclosure 34 from the platform I5by disengaging the snap fastener elements 40 and 4I, whereupon theenclosure may be lifted from the supporting frame structure II andthoroughly cleaned. When the enclosure 34 is removed, easy access may behad to the frame structure, seat, and platform to enable these variousparts to be thoroughly cleaned and kept in a sanitary condition.

While I have shown and described what I consider to be the mostpractical embodiment of my invention, I wish it to be understood thatsuch changes and alterations as come within the scope of the appendedclaims may be resorted to, if desired.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A portable steam bath unit comprising in combination, a hollowcircular platform having an annular side wall, and spaced apart top andbottom walls, the top edge of the side wall rising above the plane ofthe top wall, the interior of the hollow platform constituting a steamcollecting chamber, steam inlet means provided in said hollow platform,the top Wall of the platform having steam outlet openings therein, afloor frame structure comprising spaced Vertical leg rails tting againstand secured to the annular side wall of said platform, the upperportions of the leg rails being disposed in inwardly convergingrelation, a horizontally disposed yoke like neck rail connected to thetop ends of the leg rails, a seat supporting frame connected to the legrails above the platform, a seat supported by the seat supporting frame,a exible capelike moisture-proof cover supported by the neck rail anddraped about the leg rails with its lower portion lapping the annularside wall of the platform, and means for releasably securing the lappingportion of the cover to the annular side wall of said platform.

2. A portable steam bath unit comprising in combination, a hollowdrum-like casing having a steam inlet in the bottom thereof and steamoutlet openings in the top wall thereof, the interior of the casingconstituting a steam chamber, a frame structure including a plurality ofuprights, each of which comprises a foot section, a leg section, and aninwardly extending angular top section, a horizontal neck yoke railconnected to the top ends of the uprights, means securing the drum likecasing to the leg portions of said uprights, a horizontal seat frameconsisting of AND StlTl'UONS.

HSG! D!! a threaded hub, rails connected to and extending radially fromsaid hub and respectively connected to the leg portions of saiduprights, a seat having a screw threaded stem threadedly connected tothe threaded hub, and a moistureproof cover` having a top portionprovided with a neck opening, and a depending skirt portion, the topportion resting upon the neck rail and the skirt portion being drapedover the uprights and depending in lapped relation with respect to thesides of said casing.

3. A portable steam bath unit comprising in combination, a framestructure having feet for rest upon a licor, a hollow circular drum-likecasing secured to and within said frame structure in elevated positionabove the feet thereof, the bottom wall of said casing having a steaminlet opening and the top wall thereof having steam outlet openings, asteam generator Water tank supported by the bottom wall of the casingbeneath the steam inlet opening, an arcuate shape trough secured to theside of said casing, a pipe connection between said trough and saidsteam generator water tank, an arcuate water supply tank containedwithin said trough having a water outlet in the bottom wall thereof,valve means for controlling the ow of Water from the water supply tankto the steam generator Water tank and for maintaining a predeterminedwater level in the last named tank, an electric heating elementextending into said steam generator water tank, and a exible tent-likecover draped over and supported by said frame structure with its lowerportion lapping the side of the casing.

4. In a portable steam bath cabinet, a iloor frame comprising aplurality of circularly arranged uprights, each upright comprising afoot portion and a leg portion, a horizontal neck yoke rail connectingthe top ends of the leg portions, a circular perforated floor supportedby the leg portions of said uprights, a horizontal seat frame comprisinga central threaded hub, rails secured to said hub and extending radiallytherefrom and respectively connected to the leg portions of said frame,a seat having a depending threaded stem threaded in said threaded hub,and a exible tent-like cover supported by and draped over the'framestructure and depending below said perforated floor, said cover having aneck opening in the top thereof in registration with the neckyoke rail.

ALICE J. CARL.

